Poem: Rarus

Rarus

Rare is an ochre diamond

fancy, flawless, Argyle-born,

forged in the crucible of red-hot earth.

Rare is the vaquita

a small, lonely harbour porpoise,

just ten remain, snared

in nets of human making.

Rare is the multiflora Pitcairn honey,

its remote sweetness untouched,

untainted by harm.

Rare is the sound of zebra hooves

mistaken, too often,

for the common horse.

Rare is the Middlemist Red Camellia

two exist:

one in New Zealand,

one in Great Britain.

Rare are the African bees

a cacophony

around the temple.

Hexagonal combs drip:

black-eyed lives

in ten-thousand hollow tombs

the sensation in my throat,

still tasting

your life’s nectar.

Pharaohs sleep

in stones.

Meg Dolan is a retired mental health therapist and support worker who lives in Queensland. As well as in Australian, UK, US, Canadian, Irish and other literary journals, she has seen her poetry published in the 2016 collection ‘Story: Reflective Poetry’. Meg is also on LinkedIn.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.

Photo: Maria Lysenko / Unsplash